This invention is directed to systems and methods for redeeming or issuing stored value cards and other store issued credit during a communications failure between the store and the centralized location at which records for all stored value card and store credit accounts are kept.
Stores and other point-of-sale locations accept payment for goods or services in a number of forms. One form that has become common is credit issued by the store for exclusive use in the store. If the store is part of a chain or connected or related to other stores (e.g., in a strategic association), the customer may be permitted to use the store credit in any of the related stores. The store credit may be provided to a customer in a number of ways, the most common of which include gift cards, gift certificates, merchandise credits, and stored value cards.
To ensure that a customer's store credit is appropriately reduced each time the customer uses store credit to make a purchase, and to ensure that a customer has sufficient store credit to make a purchase, a home office may be used to record purchases and save current store credit account information for each customer. The term “home office” is used throughout for illustrative purposes and my be any central location. For example, when a customer wishes to use store credit at a store, the store may request authorization from the home office to process the transaction. If the home office determines that the customer has sufficient store credit for the transaction, the home office may send an authorization signal to the store. If the customer has sufficient store credit for a portion of the transaction, the home office may send partial authorization.
When the communications link between the store and the home office is down, however, the store cannot request nor receive authorization from the home office for a store credit transaction. Instead, the store must either request an alternate form of payment, or call the home office and manually request and receive authorization for a transaction. Both of these solutions are burdensome to the store, and susceptible to creating delays and unsatisfactory service for customers. Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods for efficiently processing store credit transactions when a store is off-line.